Bermuda's national soccer coach Mark Trott will make his full international bow at the end of this month when the Island visits the US.

Football Association chiefs appointed Trott to the post at the beginning of last month, with David Furbert, head coach at First Division Prospect United, becoming his assistant.

The team has yet to play a match under the new leadership pairing -- in fact Bermuda's last competitive game was against Antigua in the World Cup qualifiers almost a year ago.

The Island had been scheduled to take part in the Copa Carib but pulled out when the dates were changed and the tournament brought forward.

As a result the Bermuda's elite soccer players face the prospect of being without competitive international football for the forseeable future.

In a bid to bridge the gap the BFA has announced it is to take a squad of 20 players to the US on April 26 for two matches -- the first against the Nashville Metros of the US A League and the second against an Hispanic Allstars team.

Jon Beard, the BFA's coach of education and development, said: "The men's national squad will be travelling to Nashville, Tennessee for the first stage of their development programme.

"We feel that it is vital for the team to have short term goals -- games against good-level opposition on a regular basis.

"We would obviously like to win the games, but the most important concern at this stage is that the players perform well.

"It will give the coaching staff a clear view of our strengths and weaknesses -- and who is ready to play at this level.'' Although the Metros play at a decent level of soccer in the US, they are not among the top teams in their respective league.

Last year they won six and lost 22 of their games, losing the last 17 on the trot.

Injuries, suspensions and a porous defence that let in a league record 103 goals led to coach Brett Mosen retaining only two players from last year's roster for this season.

They kick-off their A League season on Friday against the Richmond Kickers, another team that the BFA were rumoured to be targeting for a friendly game.

Been a long time: Bermuda's Tommy Carter (right) in action in the last national team game, against Antigua nearly a year ago.